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Street children find new hope

By Karen Galarpe, abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 10/09/2010 4:06 PM | Updated as of 10/09/2010 11:58 PM

MANILA, Philippines - On EDSA, the main highway in Metro Manila, young children and teenagers, like the ambulant vendors, dart between cars and buses when traffic slows down. They knock on car doors, approach jeepney and bus windows, and stretch out their grubby palms at commuters, asking for money to buy food.

The circumstances these street children are facing are usually the same: Dirt poor, they have nowhere to turn to and so they beg. Some are orphans. Others have left homes. The rest live on the streets with their families, making beds out of discarded cartons and carts and catching whatever shut-eye they could under flyovers and on dirty sidewalks.

Is there hope and a way out for these street children?

Yes there is, according to the Center for Family Ministries (CEFAM), an organization based in Ateneo de Manila University that is committed to empowering the Filipino family.

For 4 years now, CEFAM has been conducting its Resilience Program (Repro), a 20-session "strengths-based program designed to help rescued street children identify and build resilience traits that can empower them to prevail over adversities."

Using a psycho-spiritual approach, CEFAM reaches out to these street children aged 9 years old and above to help them bounce back from their misfortune and become confident again.

The program is held in conjunction with child welfare agencies reaching out to street children.

At the time of our interview, CEFAM was conducting Repro to about 15 street children at the Kaisahang Buhay Foundation in Quezon City.

'I have, I am, I can'

At one morning session, the street children, all in their teens, sat gathered in a circle on banig mats. The previous week, they watched a film depicting the life of John Foppe, a man born without arms who, despite his condition, had a positive outlook in life.